The adventures begin again

So this past Thursday, Jimmie and I set out to take a picture for his Arizona Skies project. As we were driving around, deciding where to go, Jimmie mentioned that we were coming up to "The Gazebo." I had heard about this Gazebo many times through out our dating and married life. Was this the day that I was finally going to be able to lay my eyes on the infamous Gazebo?! I believe I said something similar to that (just to be a brat) and it was decided that THIS would be the place that we would take the Sky picture of the day. :)

As we pulled up, I was struck by the beauty of it. In my mind, I was picturing this little white Gazebo in the middle of nowhere. I had no idea how big it would be and that it was surrounded by a lake! I love how Arizona has so many bodies of water just randomly placed through neighborhoods, along the sides of roads, in parks, etc. I think all states should invest in things like this!

As Jimmie started shooting, we realized that there was a whole flock of ducks (flock? Is that right?) or maybe they were birds-It was hard to tell because they looked like birds, but acted like ducks. Maybe they were some sort of mutant duck/bird thing that scientist have yet to discover? Anywho- this is not really all that pertinent to the story. The point is that they were simply hanging out on the grass when I hear Jimmie say "Hey!" "Why don't you run over there and make them fly. That would be an awesome picture." I agreed, and started trekking it around the lake to where the ducks were minding their own business. They had no idea that in about 3 minutes they were about to be scared out of their minds by a crazy lady running toward them flailing her arms. (Thankfully there are no pictures of that!)

I was completely enjoying myself watching them running/flying/swimming to get away from me .I was trying to imagine what they were thinking and it was making me laugh a little bit-when I realized that there was this awful stink! I looked down and realized that I was running in poop! Lots and lots of little black bird/duck poop! and it STUNK- like really bad! The thought that I would be running through their bathroom had never crossed my mind. I realized that the birds had gotten me back, accepted defeat, and headed back to where Jimmie was. Thankfully he got this awesome picture to make it all worth it!

I love how it looks like some of them are running and some flying!

See mutant duck bird- I wasn't kidding.

After that we decided to take a stroll around the lake. Jimmie had done this many a time in the past and it was such a beautiful day- why not?! We walked for about 15 minutes and were just talking and laughing and just enjoying ourselves. We came to a curve in the lake which was at one end of it, and we noticed that's where all the garbage had ended up. There were cups, paper, pieces of metal etc... and it was pretty nasty. I noticed something bobby up and down and while pointing to it, I asked, "What is that?!" I really didn't think it was anything important, I just wanted to see. As I headed toward the edge of the lake to get a closer look, Jimmie said jokingly "Wait! What if its a a dead body or something?" I laughed and when I realized what it was replied that it was only a plastic bag, folded weird in the water so it looked like something else.

At that moment, I looked down right next to my foot. What I thought was a big bolder sticking out of the water, was not!

It was a HUGE, dried up, DISGUSTING dead fish! I of course screamed and jumped back! Which made Jimmie jump because he had "dead bodies floating in the lake" on his mind. And then I pointed it out to him...

Do you see that cup next to it? Yeah that is a big gulp cup. Do you see how the fish is double its size???

Its eye was all picked out, but other than that, it was in completely good condition (except that it was dead.)

Jimmie, being a boy wanted to find a stick and flip it over. Which ended up grossing us both out. The water moving in and out of its mouth was making this gurgurling noise and then once it was flipped, it was all soggy (no pics of that. You are welcome). I kept looking at the lake thinking- What other kind of massive sea creatures are in this lake! Maybe my mutant duck/bird theory wasn't that far off!

We said our goodbyes to this fish and then continued on our walk. We stopped to take some pictures of these trees. The last pictures of fall. (Jimmie did an amazing job, so I wanted to put them on here. ) Doesn't it just feel like winter?!

So as Jimmie was snapping away, I looked down and noticed this black dead furry thing by my feet. "I wonder what they used to belong to?" Jimmie looked over and then saw another piece of it by him. "Looks like a cats leg to me". EWWW!!! What was this place? Some kind of death trap for animals? It looks so pretty from far away, but as you get closer- watch out!

So hurriedly we moved on. The pathway leads under the road into this little tunnel. A few years ago Jimmie had written his initials on the wall. So we started looking for them. It wasn't until after we found them, that I noticed that there were a lot of dirt clods on the walls. And then we both realized.. they weren't dirt clods- they were spider colonies. Not just webs, but a total nesting ground for who knows what kind of spider!

So here are Jimmie's initals with one tiny little spider colony next to it. I know what you're thinking... its not that scary right? I thought the same thing too...at first. You see, I was wearing a hat so my vision was restricted. When I started looking up, I began having a panic attack and even screamed (mind you I am not a screamer! and 2 times I screamed out loud on this walk!)

Here is what I saw as I looked upwards. All along the roof and walls were millions of these colonies. MILLIONS. It kind of felt like I was just waiting for spiders to start dropping on my head (in a harry potter type fashion). Lets just say, I was only in there for about 1.5 milliseconds after I saw this. Thankfully Jimmie stayed in to take the pictures so I had proof at just how terrifying it was!

Lets just say that I was about ready for this little "nature" walk to be over. We walked up the path and over to the road to cross it back to where his truck was. We crossed half way into the medium to wait for traffic. The city had done a good job of making the medium all pretty with trees, bushes and flowers. As Jimmie and I stepped down to cross the road again, at the same time, we both saw this big ole fat pigeon body. It was bloody and dead and sticking out of the bushes!

I think I screamed again.

I was so thankful to be back in the truck again.

So maybe not all states should invest in these lakes. Apparently it is a death trap if you're an animal. Maybe it's the spiders that are killing all these creatures?

All I know is that I am thankful to be alive! :)

The beauty of the Gazebo seemed to help things though- here are just a few more pictures Jimmie took- just to end this post on a not so gruesome note!